Posted on 06/18/2014 2:34:23 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
Mosul, in northern Iraq, had a substantial Christian population of around 10,000 until Sunni Islamist militants belonging to the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) took the city in their lightning offensive last week.
Most of them have fled, seeking refuge in nearby Kurdistan, an autonomous Kurdish territory where they feel protected from the hard-line Sunni fighters by the local Peshmerga army.
Unlike the rest of Iraq, Kurdistan has succeeded in preserving co-existence between its diverse communities, and for now it's a safe haven for oppressed minorities.
The Peshmerga have taken advantage of the power vacuum in northern Iraq to extend their influence beyond the borders of Kurdistan.
Refugees in the town of Bashiqa, just ten kilometres from their homes in Mosul, are benefiting from the protection of Kurdish forces.
In the town centre, FRANCE 24 watched Peshmerga fighters deploy under the steeple of Bashiqa's Syrian Orthodox Church, whose patriarch had traveled from Damascus to show support for Christians in the region.
(Excerpt) Read more at m.france24.com ...
Remember: Obama gave weapons to ISIS
The Kurds have suffered a lot under Saddam Hussein ( Remember, when over five thousand of them were gassed by Saddam’s Chemical Weapons when Papa Bush was President? Ever wondered where those WMD went to? ).
Anyway, the Kurdish area is probably the most STABLE, PEACEFUL and RELATIVELY better off region in what is still known as Iraq. I can understand why Christian would flee to their area. They are the kind of Muslims who are really tolerant and secular ( i.e. they don’t cover their women up from head to toe, and are not strict on the prayer five times a day stuff. I know, I have some Kurdish friends in NYC ).
They are also the ones who are willing to FIGHT for their area ( note how they repelled the ISIL advance in Kirkuk ).
If I were in charge (OK, finish your laughter first and hear me out ), I would start talking to the Kurdish leaders about the plan for independence. I’ll tell them to prepare and organize for this and prepare to DEFEND themselves.
Then I would tell Maliki this — YOU WANT THE US TO DEFEND YOU AND YOUR SHIA? Here are our requirements:
1) Let the Kurds have their country.
2) Get rid of your Islamic constitution, and set up a secular state
3) Recognize Israel
4) Break off ties with Iran.
If Maliki says NO, then tell him: “Fine, have it your way. Goodbye”.
I would then head off to the Kurds and help THEM defend themselves.
Only one thing I disagree with in your post. That would be helping the Kurds defend themselves. The Kurds seem to be doing just fine defending themselves. The last thing they need is our “help”.
I think if these guys were put on the front page most of America would be cheering and praying for them...
I was going to give them a thread of their own but something happened to my browser. need to find a better one
I think that Iraq should be forced portion off a part of their nation and call it Christianistan.
You know, like the Palestinians and Israel. It’s only fair.
Sorry for the misspellings...one other very odd fact...I was researching Kurds on the inet one day and found a blog by a freelance reporter in Northern Iraq at the same time I was there that published a blog about the Kurds and it sounded like he felt the same as me about them. Evidently he had connections and posted he was going to get a DNA sample from them and take it to some one that could perform the test because they were so different from all the Arabs there and he wanted to know where they came from. About 3 weeks later he posted the results on his blog. He said the technician that ran the test said that there was only one chromosome structure in all of the world like that....THEY ARE JEWISH
Well, here would be the natural outworkings of your plan.
A) You’d have an independent and probably relatively stable Kurdistan, which would likely be a little like Jordan or Azerbaijan.
B) Iran would make southern Iraq a colony. I doubt they’d keep Malaki around, so they’d appoint a cleric. This would put Iran in a much better position to try to topple the king of Bahrain (where we have a base), where the majority are Shiites.
C) ISIS would retain this northern region spanning into Syria
From this region, they would have an even better haven than Afghanistan from which to launch international terror. The solution is not making ridiculous demands from Malaki to which he would NEVER agree (the Shiites would kill him if he adopted those reforms). The solution is to isolate the ISIS fighters to their region, then commence carpet bombing. If civilians haven’t left the region, it is fair to assume they are with the terrorists.
If we fail to do this, i can make solid predictions as to what happens next
Afghanistan falls
Syria falls
Jordan falls
Descendents of those not returning from the Babylonian Captivity?
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